The Sixteen Trees of the Somme

Author/Guide: Lars Mytting

Why a Booktrail?

20th century: A family saga spanning centuries, wars and countries..

ISBN: 978-0857056061
Translator: Paul Russell Garrett
Genre: Fiction, Historical, Translated Fictioin

Comment

What you need to know before your trail

Edvard grows up on a remote mountain farmstead in Norway with his taciturn grandfather, Sverre. The death of his parents, when he was three years old, has always been shrouded in mystery – he has never been told how or where it took place and has only a distant memory of his mother.

But he knows that the fate of his grandfather’s brother, Einar, is somehow bound up with this mystery. One day a coffin is delivered for his grandfather long before his death – a meticulous, beautiful piece of craftsmanship. Perhaps Einar is not dead after all.

Edvard’s desperate quest to unlock the family’s tragic secrets takes him on a long journey – from Norway to the Shetlands, and to the battlefields of France – to the discovery of a very unusual inheritance.

Locations

Reset

Scotland - Shetland Isles - Unst
C: Scalloway
D: Brae - Fish and Chips
E: Norwick
F: Haaf Gruney

Travel Guide

Norway

Saskum (close to Lillehammer)

Edvard grows up here with his grandfather on a remote farm in the very small hamlet of Sakrum (close to Lillehammer in central Norway). Living here is not easy. The land is unforgiving and raw. People live off the land and Edvard’s family are potato and sheep farmers. Life can be lonely as the community is very small and claustrophobic. People like to know your business and if you don’t even know your own past, life can be extremely tough.

Edvard lost his parents when young and has never ventured far from Saskum so this journey far and wide is a huge step.

Scotland

The Shetland Isles (Unst, Norwick and Scalloway to name but three)

It’s the land where we meet Einar and his work as a coffin maker and boatbuilder. This is a remote and distant land and he travels to the most northern and remote parts to seek answers. It’s here, in this raw and unforgiving land that the tensions between Einar and Edvard’s grandfather come to light. This is a land where you survive the land and the elements, where the water and the currents dictate your every day

There are many places visited as part of the story – Unst, Norwick and Scalloway not to mention the most northernly fish and chip shop (In Brae)

Haaf Gruney is evoked via whispers of history,culture and language and a stunning tapestry is woven as a result.

The Somme

All the emotions and heart of the novel lead here. Authuille is the tiny settlement which was actually at the centre of the WW1 Battle of the Somme.

The setting of the Somme is perhaps the most emotional and complex of the three. This holds the key to the journey leading up to it and it’s here where the story of so much comes to light. Not just the story of Edvard but that of the Black Water soldiers and the story of the small piece of wood which split the two sides apart….wow. The story of the wood, and the trees of the area not to mention the symbolism is fascinating. Edvard later plants trees on his far in memory of those who lost their lives.

Sixteen Trees of the Somme

Booktrailer Review

Susan: @thebooktrailer

The Sixteen Trees of the Somme…wow, quite a novel and that’s in English so I can only imagine what it reads like in Norwegian. Hats off to the translator! Very impressive to get such lyrical and emotional language from the off and to keep it flowing so naturally throughout. It pulls on the heartstrings more because of this, and a fitting style for such a moving read.

Moving in every sense of the word – The BookTrail goes to Saskum in Norway (close to Lillehammer) , the Shetland Isles (Unst, Norwick and Scalloway to name but three) and then of course off to the Somme where all the emotions and heart of the novel lead. Authuille is the tiny settlement which was actually at the centre of the WW1 Battle of the Somme.

It’s an epic read but one which flows and takes you with it. At the centre is Edvard who lost his parents at age 3 so has grown up with his grandfather Bestefar (love that name!). They live on a farm and cultivate potatoes and life for a while is hard but stable. But when Bestefar dies, Edvard realises that his past is hidden in his grandfather’s papers. His journey will take him far and wide…to the most remote and northern parts of the Shetland islands where he meets someone who will help his story come together.

It’s not until we get to France that the story’s clues settle in to some sort of picture and reveals the emotions of what happened to his parents all those years ago. I was a mess by this point to be honest. So wrapped up in the language, entire story which span centuries but which seemed to be too short – I wallowed after reading this, not wanting to get up from my reading spot, move on, and certainly not read anything else for a while.

It’s a journey of a novel in both setting, locations and its emotional heart is beating strong. Wow. Quite something. I’m off to buy the original and am going to use this as a practice for improving my Norwegian. I want to learn these words and meet them in their natural habitat so to speak. Also gives me an excuse to read this again. Not that I need it.

Highly recommended. Lars Mytting and translator Paul Russell Garrett – take a bow.